Grizzlies' Allen grinds down foes with defense, toughness, energy

Grizzlies guard Tony Allen (above) “adds so much to the chemistry of this team. When he’s here, everybody has more pep to his step,” says teammate Mike Conley.

Grizzlies guard Tony Allen (above) "adds so much to the chemistry of this team. When he's here, everybody has more pep to his step," says teammate Mike Conley.

Grizzlies guard Tony Allen (above) “adds so much to the chemistry of this team. When he’s here, everybody has more pep to his step,” says teammate Mike Conley.

No one was happier than Glynn Cyprien to see the Grizzlies beat the Clippers on Wednesday to even the Western Conference first-round round series at 1-1.

"It means I get to come to Memphis to watch Game 5," Cyprien said by phone from College Station, Texas, where he just finished his first season as an assistant coach at Texas A&M. "I get to come watch (Grizzlies' guard) Tony (Allen)."

Ten years ago in 2002, when Cyprien was an assistant at Oklahoma State, he signed Allen, a Chicago kid, out of an Illinois junior college. Cyprien loved Allen's heart, ignored his rough edges and knew that with coaching and encouragement, he would succeed.

Allen became the Big 12 Conference Player of the Year on a Final Four team, was picked No. 25 overall in the first round of the 2004 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics and their general manager, Chris Wallace, and won an NBA championship ring in 2008.

Two summers ago when Wallace, as the Grizzlies' general manager, was trying to lure then-free agent Allen from the Celtics, he called Cyprien, who happened to be on Josh Pastner's University of Memphis staff.

"Glynn Cyprien is the guy who got Tony to sign with us," said Wallace, whose signing of Allen in July 2010 to a three-year, $9.7 million contract cemented the gritty style of play that has gotten the Grizzlies to the playoffs two consecutive seasons.

At the time, the Allen-Grizzlies marriage seemed to make no sense. The Grizzlies lacked outside shooters and Allen was a defensive stopper. And why would a guy want to leave a franchise guaranteed to make strong runs at a league championship for a team that had been 0-12 in three playoff appearances?

Trust.

Allen trusted Wallace, who had drafted him. He certainly trusted Cyprien, who always had his back and who's always been more than just one of Allen's former coaches. He learned to trust Griz coach Lionel Hollins, a straight shooter who says what he means and means what he says.

As a result, Allen has given the Griz the defensive backbone they lacked. On Wednesday, just hours before Allen had 10 points, five rebounds, three steals and two blocks in the Grizzlies' series-evening 105-98 victory, he finished sixth in the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year voting. Last year, he finished fourth.

Honestly, since Sunday's 99-98 loss in Game 1 to the Grizzlies when the Clippers' Chris Paul hit two winning free throws after Allen inexplicably fouled him trying to make a play that wasn't there, Allen hadn't been thinking about awards.

"I let our team down by not getting the stop," Allen said. "I'm just trying to be the glue guy."

Ask any Grizzly and they'll tell you Allen is more than a glue guy. When he's hurt, not dressed out and not even on the bench or in the locker room, it's noticeable.

"It's quiet when Tony's not here," point guard Mike Conley said. "He adds so much to the chemistry of this team. When he's here, everybody has more pep to his step."

Allen understood a long time ago that his defense was his calling card.

"We had a pro-am league in Chicago, and you never wanted the man you were guarding to get the crowd going, to get them oohing and aahing," Allen said. "You didn't want to get embarrassed. If your man crossed you over with his dribble and you fell down, people in the stands would just get up and start running (up and down the aisles). You didn't want that to happen. So you needed to have your defensive antennas up and your shoes tied tight.

"And when I was with the Celtics, every day in practice for six years I'd stick the No. 2 scorer in Celtics history (Paul Pierce). He'd be trash-talking me. (Celtics coach) Doc (Rivers) would be telling me, 'Step up to the challenge!' Then, I'd have to switch to guard Ray Allen and chase him through all these picks on all those puzzling, misdirection plays. All of that has helped give me my defensive edge."

Well, all that and all his nervous energy.

Allen can't stand still long enough to stay in huddles during timeouts. ("Tony's got ants in his pants, but he always knows where he's supposed to be," Hollins said.) He's the Grizzlies' most prolific Twitterer, who tweets anything that pops in his head ("Waffle House thoughts" or "Mean nap I just took! If it wasn't for this NASCAR noise on television, I woulda been sleep another 2 hours").

From afar, Cyprien can see that Allen and Memphis are a good marriage.

"You can read Tony's tweets and see how happy he is," Cyprien said. "He's happy in his personal life, with his fiancee and being able to now have his little girl live with him. And he's happy with the way the city embraced him, but that didn't surprise me. I know where he came from. Tony's like a lot of people in Memphis, someone trying to make his way and earn an honest dollar. Nothing has ever been handed to him."